Wednesday

I hope you all are not tired of sunrise pictures. I just love a beautiful sunrise and we get some amazing ones here. I thought this one this morning was especially beautiful.

Today while the girls worked on school, I worked on the dreaded refrigerators. We have two refrigerators here in the house. One is a side by side and the other is just a regular refrigerator with the freezer on top. So many little cups of this and cups of that had been stored over the holidays. It was getting impossible to find space to put new cups of this and that. I decided enough was enough. I cleaned both of them out completely, removed the shelves and washed them. I stood back and looked at them and was amazed at how much better they looked. Empty but better. So good that I decided to do the freezers too. Amazing! I actually have space in the fridges and the freezers now. I thought I would never get all those containers washed. I decided since the girls were working so hard on school, I would let them out of that chore today. Thats one job I am glad to have done.

While we were inside working on this Hubby was busy splitting wood. (Dave, he has your splitting maul sharpened and ready for you!) After we were finished inside, we went out and helped him move all the split wood inside the wood building. It was a fairly nice day for working outside. Temperature was around 30 degrees with occasional sunshine.

Enjoy your evening and God bless.

January 5, 2011 3

Hard Worker

We start them working young around here. Daniel was a big helper Friday as PawPaw, MawMaw and Daddy worked cutting wood. He rode in the “bumpy truck”. He was a very tired, very dirty, little boy at days end but definitely a very HAPPY little boy. He had so much fun and I considered myself blessed to be part of his fun day.

They have been visiting since Thursday and we had a wonderful visit. Dave and Hubby went to shoot sporting clays Thursday and Saturday. We worked on the wood Friday. David will need to go back to work tomorrow to rest. We have been having beautiful weather here in Floyd. Friday, when we were cutting the wood, we worked in short sleeves most of the day. Temperature was in the mid 50’s. Unbelievable but great. Temperature today is 40 degrees. It is a little overcast with some sun and a slight breeze. So much better than last week (in my opinion).

I think I will go enjoy some of that sunshine. Take care and God bless.

January 2, 2011 5

Apron

This is my first little girl apron. I made this one for my granddaughter, Alexius. I am sure there are many things I did wrong as I am just learning how to read patterns. Most of the time, I did not know what the pattern was telling me to do so I just figured it out my way and did it. I used some old material I had, just in case I messed up. I thought it would be better to practice some with the new machine.

Temperatures are very cold here again. Wind chill this morning was -10 degrees. The wind has been whipping all day, gusts up in the 50 mph range. Our snow is now blown into 2-3 ft drifts. The predictions are, though, for it to warm up by the weekend. I certainly hope so.

I think I will go work on another apron pattern. This time, I think I will try the pattern I am wanting to make to sell. I need to practice on it some and besides I can always enjoy a new apron. Take care and God bless.

December 27, 2010 6

Sunday

Yesterday was such a fun day for us. We decided to take the girls to the movies as part of their Christmas gift. As we very seldom go to the movies, this was a big treat. We found (thanks to our friends, the Horns) a movie theater that is affordable and family friendly. We watched The Chronicles of Narnia-Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was a very good movie and we all had a great time. Grace has read the book and Julie is in process now of reading it.

Also, as my aprons are now being sold in a local store, I thought it would be nice to try out some different patterns. I had been told it would be nice if I could do matching aprons. One for Mom (or MawMaw)and one for a little girl. I found a pattern I like pretty well. Here is a picture of it.

Not exactly what I was looking for but a good place to start.

This is the material I picked out. The floral will be the main material and the striped will be the contrasting material. What do you all think? I am having difficulties with my sewing maching, so pray I can get it up and running soon. (Could be the operator, who knows!) Anyway, I am excited to start a new project and upping my abilities. I have not made many things from a real pattern. Usually, its something I just figure out on my own or I alter the pattern so that it fits my abilities. Sally, our pastor’s wife, has agreed to help me if I get in over my head. I don’t think I will though. It looks pretty easy on paper. I will show you the finished results when done.

I think I’ll go check out my machine. Take care and God bless.

December 19, 2010 4

Snow

We are getting snow here this morning, hoping it stays snow and not ice or sleet. Predictions are for 3-5 inches. I don’t think it will accumulate that much though but we will have to wait and see. This picture is from our bedroom window upstairs. If you look to the right of the picture, you can see the pond with the snow that has laid on the ice. The good news is that it has warmed up! Temperature of 15 this morning when we got up and hardly any wind. YEAH!

Last night our youth did their Christmas play at church. We were scheduled to do it Sunday but since we have had to cancel two Sundays in a row, the youth leader thought we should do it last night, just in case. It went very well. The kids did great. I should have taken my camera and got some pictures but, of course, I forgot. We did school yesterday, caught up on some laundry, wrapped some gifts, all the ordinary things. There is a lot to be said for just doing ordinary things. It brings a sense of peace, I think.

We experience some smoke problems the night before, so we let the fire go out yesterday. Hubby checked the pipes when he came home. All was well. Not sure what caused it. Maybe just the direction the wind was blowing. This summer, we put a topper on the chimney pipe. It is supposed to turn with the wind to keep the wind from blowing the smoke back down the chimney. We had such a problem with that last winter. Anyway, all looked well yesterday so hopefully it will not happen again.

Well, we have things to do. I pray your day will be full of joy. God bless.

December 16, 2010 3

Correction

I am making a correction to our temperature this morning. We saw a friend of ours in Wal-mart today. They live close to us. He has a machine that tells him all types of weather. It registers not just temperature but wind chill temps. He said it was -26 degrees wind chill this morning. Now I know for sure that is COLD. Just wanted you all to know. God bless.

December 14, 2010 2

COLD!!!

I took this picture this morning looking out from our enclosed front porch. Yes, it really is as cold as it looks. Actual temperature this morning was zero with wind chills about -15. Maybe its warmer up north. We certainly were thankful for the added warmth of the gas logs. We went yesterday to get the tires on the car. When we returned our water was frozen. This never happens during day time hours. We hooked up the heat light and PRAISE THE LORD it started running again around 8:30 P.M. Needless to say, we left it on slightly last night.

We have to take the car back today. Something isn’t quite right with the right tire. The car has a bad vibration in it. I must say I do not look forward to going out in this cold weather but it has to be done.

I know I’ve already posted a picture of the village but I thought it looked so good with the frost on the window behind it. Enjoy your day, stay warm and God bless.

December 14, 2010 4

Daniel

Yesterday Dave, Jess and the boys came for a quick visit. They had purchased a butchered hog in Burnt Chimney, which is kinda close to here. They had one of the hams cured for a country ham. It has to hang for 3 months. They brought it by here to hang in one of our buildings. They also generously shared some of the pork with us. Thanks! We enjoyed fresh sausage this morning with our eggs and cooked pears. Sooooooo good!!!

Daniel is ready to go to work in this picture. He has his hat on and my shovel in his hand. This picture was my first attempt at learning how to crop pictures on my computer. I should have made it bigger but I’m just learning. We had some ice fall during the night, now we are getting snow. Hopefully, it will just be snow from now on. I really do not like ice. No church today. I think it will be a snuggle in day. Make some candy or cookies-maybe both.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 12, 2010 5

Praise!

Praise the Lord! Water is once again flowing in the Dawson home. We got it unthawed this morning. We are so happy. It truly is amazing how much water we use during the day. Temperatures are still cold here. 8 degrees this morning with a wind chill below zero. Tomorrow though it is supposed to warm up a little and not be too bad until Sunday, then it is supposed to turn cold again. We will be having an all day play practice Saturday for the Youth Christmas play at church. We will be doing the play on Sunday-weather permitting.

We have decided no school today. We are going to our friends, the Horns, to make some more candy. I will be making peanut butter balls and Vicki is going to make oreo truffles. We are looking forward to a day of fun. Hope your day is as blessed as mine has already been. God bless.

December 8, 2010 3

Our Mantle Nativity

This little Nativity set is the star attraction on our mantle during Christmas. It is already sitting in its place of honor. It has been to cold too go to the building to get out our other decorations but we did venture out to get the Nativity. Hopefully, it will warm up some so we can get the other stuff down soon. Very cold here last night. Acutual temperature 7 degrees with a wind chill of about -5. Our water is frozen. So sad. Hubby thought he had fixed every little crack that the wind could get into but I guess we were wrong. Remember last year, our bathroom water was frozen for about 1 1/2 months. We were hoping to avoid that this year. Well, this morning all the water is frozen, nothing coming into the house anywhere. Definitely not good. Hubby is going to work on it this evening as soon as he gets in. Pray it will not be too hard to get it running again. Then I guess we will just have to keep a small trinkle running at night to keep it from freezing again. I am so grateful I went up yesterday to the cellar and covered up our pototoes and our canned green beans with quilts. Hopefully they are in good shape. Last year they froze in the cellar. I do not want a repeat of that. The green beans are closest to the door so I guess there must be some wind that gets in at the door. Oh well, this is all part of winter, I know. I can’t say I like it though.

I do have good news. A local bakery, The Bread Basket, has graciously agreed to display my aprons for sale. I am so excited!!!!! I took her 9 aprons this morning. I pray they sell quickly and that perhaps I could bring her more. This would be so much better than trying to sell them myself. All in God’s hands.

Well, I have things to get done-not laundry though. Can’t do laundry without water. Stay warm and God bless.

December 7, 2010 2